


Meeting Strangers

by nenya_kanadka



Series: A Place To Stand AU [1]
Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Alien Gender/Sexuality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-24
Updated: 2012-04-24
Packaged: 2017-11-04 05:33:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/390313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nenya_kanadka/pseuds/nenya_kanadka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Delenn meets her first <i>helasae'dar</i>. A moment from Delenn and Mayan's childhood. ("Minbari third-gender" AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meeting Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> This will be of interest to about four people on the entire planet, including me. :D It's a short bit from the "third-gender" shared AU that [hearts_blood](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hearts_blood/pseuds/hearts_blood) has graciously allowed me to play in. Minbari here have three sexes (Lennier is one of the third gender), with a number of cultural and social implications. 
> 
> Language Notes: Adronato taken mostly from the [Jump Now Minbari Dictionary](http://www.jumpnow.de/dic/search.php).  
>  _va'sala_ : mother  
>  _va'mala_ : father  
>  _va'hela_ : third-gendered parent  
>  _hela_ : third-gendered spouse/partner  
>  _helas'dar_ (pl. _helasae'dar_ ): a member of the Minbari third gender
> 
> * * *

"Shhh," Mayan whispered. Delenn clung to her hand and ducked out of sight of the doorway. There were strange people in Mayan's father's receiving room. Delenn was curious, but she did not want them to _see_ her. She was five years old and _very_ brave, but that did not mean she wanted strange grownups to make her talk to them. 

"Who are they?" she whispered back. Mayan's family, unlike her own, always had visitors about, but she had never seen these before. 

"Grandmother's _va'helar_ ," Mayan said. Mayan was six and a half and knew all kinds of things. "When great-grandmother and great-grandfather went to have grandmother, great-grandfather liked their _hela_ so much that he wanted them to marry him. But great-grandmother said no." 

"You can't marry thirds," said Delenn. She knew about that. Her mother--and Delenn's heart clenched as it did every time she thought of her mother--had said so. Mothers and fathers went to temple to get a baby from the _helasae'dar_ , and then the _helasae'dar_ , the third gender, stayed there, all safe and beautiful. She had only seen one once, in the city with her mother before she went away. He was all dressed in white. He didn't look at all like these strangers. 

"People used to, ages and ages ago. Grandmother said so. Anyway, afterward, grandmother's _va'mala_ and her _va'hela_ wrote to each other all the time, even though they weren't supposed to. He _loved_ him. Isn't that exciting?" 

Delenn frowned. She stuck her head tentatively around the door again. They were very ancient people, sitting there on the low seats. Soft faces and soft crests and very wrinkly faces. They were probably a hundred years old! She couldn't imagine them doing a single exciting thing, ever. 

"When grandmother was little, her _va'hela_ sent her presents," Mayan said. "And that's him, right there, in the green robes. His _hela's_ the other one." Mayan pointed a small but decisive finger.

" _Va'mala_ says don't point at people, it's rude," said Delenn. She pushed Mayan's hand out of the way. Mayan pushed back. They bumped into the potted plant they had been hiding behind. 

The very, very old _helasae'dar_ in the sitting room turned at the clatter. "Who is there?" said one of them. Possibly Mayan's grandmother's _va'hela_ , Delenn wasn't sure. He had a nice voice. A bit thin and reedy, but nice.

Delenn dived behind the potted plant, but Mayan grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. Mayan was stronger, so Delenn had to follow. Mayan went right up to the strangers, and made a proper little bow to them, as well as she could with Delenn clinging to her hand. 

"Ah," said the one who had called them. "Young Mayan, isn't it? And who is this?" 

Delenn hid behind her friend. It didn't help much, because Mayan was older but she still wasn't very much taller. 

"This is my friend Delenn," Mayan said. "She doesn't talk much, ever since her _va'sala_ went away." 

Delenn glared at her friend. It was not right to tell private things like that to strange people!

The old third looked at Delenn and smiled. "I understand," he said. "My _va'hela_ went to the sea when I was as young as you and I was very quiet for a long time after that." 

"My mother is not _dead!_ " Delenn cried, shocked into speech. 

"Ah," said the elder. He looked at his _hela_ , who patted him gently on the knee. 

Delenn clenched her hands and muttered at the floor. "Even if _va'mala_ wants her to be." 

The other third spoke up. He had a deeper voice, and grey-blue robes. "Why do you think your father wants that, Delenn?" 

"He never, ever talks about her!" Delenn braced her feet and clasped her hands tightly behind her back. "When she sends letters, he goes away to his room and when he comes out, he frowns all the rest of the day." 

"When Feinell's _va'hela_ went away, the other adults did not speak about him," said the third in blue. "We asked my _va'hela_ why not. He said--well, first he said, 'Tarann, finish your meditation, and then ask questions.'" He smiled. Delenn smiled too. That sounded like her own father. "Then he said that it was too soon. The grownups had to think and remember for a while, before they could talk about him. They missed him too much, my _va'hela_ said." 

Delenn risked at look at Feinell and Tarann from under her brows. "Maybe," she said. 

"Your father always liked your mother when she was here," Mayan said. She squeezed Delenn's hand. "He grew her favourite flowers, remember?"

Delenn nodded. She bit her lip. For some reason thinking about her mother and flowers made her want to cry. 

Tarann saw, and said to Mayan, "Do you like flowers, Mayan?" 

Mayan grinned. "Oh, yes! But I like books about flowers better than gardening. I shall write books myself someday, _va'mala_ says. But," she scuffed her toe on the floor, "only if I learn to write more clearly. He says it is all scritch-scratches and he cannot read it." 

Tarann laughed. "And you, Delenn, do you like to write stories?" 

Delenn stared at him, tongue-tied again. She liked to read, but talking to strangers was hard. Even very nice ones like this. 

Feinell--she still thought he was the one related to Mayan, even if he was the quiet one--said, "Do not worry, Delenn. You will find your voice someday. And I think you may set the world afire with it." 

Delenn blushed. "Can we go to the garden now?" she whispered to Mayan. 

The two old _helasae'dar_ heard, and they nodded their heads gravely. Mayan bowed, and Delenn bowed too (tucking her hands in front of her like _va'mala_ had taught her), and they slipped out the door quickly and properly. 

Delenn cast herself down on a stone bench. Mayan said, "See, they were not so scary after all." And, well, they hadn't been, not really. She saw why Mayan liked them, even though she still couldn't imagine them doing anything exciting. 

"Come on," Mayan said. "Let's go finish that story we were reading. We can sit under the big tree. It's your turn this chapter, anyway." 

"All right," Delenn said. And she thought, _Maybe, tonight, I will ask_ va'mala _to teach me to read_ va'sala's _favourite book. I want to be ready, when she comes home._

Then she took Mayan's hand, and they ran off to find the book, giggling.


End file.
